Imposter
by UsurperOfTruth
Summary: They weren't a hero, not really. They just couldn't commit to it, even though they should. Despite that, they could at least pretend to be one right? It was their power after all. Despite them being a long way from home, and having great power, the road to being a hero was paved by small steps.
1. He is (not) a Hero

1.1

He didn't really think he was much of a hero.

The cracks and pops of bones breaking and reforming in what should be an unbearable amount of pain felt faraway, distant really. He was unnerved at the thought that the feeling of his body quite literally reshaping itself no longer phased him.

He was sort of like a fan that got to live out the story he liked and then flailed about once he actually got there. It was almost like a fish who always wished to see the world above the water suddenly gaining lungs and legs, frightening and even more so terrifying. Being thrust into a big scary world that could literally kill you if you were unlucky wasn't something that anyone really wanted, but guiltily there was a part of him that was excited when he had arrived. Regardless of how horrifying the world was, superheroes and superpowers were enough to make the heart pump and the brain fill with the possibilities that such things offered. It was something that any mostly introverted young adult who perhaps did not have the most social of hobbies dreamed about at least once. And wouldn't you know it, he was lucky enough to get powers. It only made the dread he felt worse.

Where he had once stood modestly, he now towered over most. The extra large white shirt and green khakis he'd been wearing now clung tightly against his form, the muscles of his current form now prominent giving him a body closer to what looked like a bodybuilder who'd eaten another bodybuilder and formed into a super Adonis. Short, slicked back blond hair sat on top of his head coming down to rest on the back of his neck except for two large tuffs of hair that spiked out and upwards in the front like some sort of sign for victory. His eyes seemed covered in shadows, and a confident grin stretched across his face.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the phone that he had built, well more like he'd "cosplayed" as someone who could build a smartphone-lite even if they were restricted a bit, and looked at the time.

August 10th, 2008  
8:54

He grimaced a bit, as he walked away from the alley-way on the street, his grin becoming less full blown and more at ease. With a practiced ease that felt much more natural than it had a couple of months ago, he waved at the few people who were out about walking, biking, and stopping their driving to wave at him. He felt a bit annoyed, and a bit guilty, why couldn't they leave him alone? He was truthfully just a fraud, someone whose was lucky enough to get a power that cheated for him to some extent. He truly wasn't hero material.

His power was good, strong enough to make a real difference he thought. He had, miraculously he thought, gotten the power to cosplay as other heroes. So long as he could recreate the outfits that they'd worn and have a picture of them in said outfit in mind he could essentially become any hero he could think of. There were some limits to it, some he knew, others he was still trying to figure out. The most immediate one being that he was sure that he didn't get the full extent of the person's power. He could tell because he could feel it after he transformed, his body always felt weaker than it should, more sluggish. If his guess was right, he was about 10-20% weaker than what he should be, for any form he turned into to. Next, the person had to be a hero was another one that he had found out within the last week, which had meant that until he'd essentially wasted time and effort on making a costume that he couldn't use. The last restriction he knew about was that the more damaged the costume was, the less strong his cosplay would be, meaning if he ever fought someone who could easily shred his outfit he'd need to be extra careful. Lose too much and that would mean, that particular hero could be out of commission for however long it took him to remake the outfit. It was why he took extra care in his costumes, not cheaping out on materials and always using the most durable and flexible stuff he could get his hands on. Regardless of those things, his power could copy any hero, and he meant any. Man, Woman, Boy, Girl, and possibly more. Regardless of his own discomfort about it.

It sounded great, and it was, if he wasn't so stubborn on not trying to commit to a group. Because of his reluctance, his funds for new costumes wasn't the greatest, far from it really, he was kind of off and on the status of broke.

Jumping with all the controlled force of a ballerina he found himself on top of building with little fanfare, his head going back and forth as he looked at the street before him looking for the reason he had come out today.

He knew he was being petty, selfish even. If he had enough funds to make a great costume of someone like Superman for example, he could change pretty much everything, even if his power decided to restrict him even more heavily like he somehow knew it would. Even at 50%, hell even at 20% really, Superman was truly a game-changer. But... he just couldn't bring himself to do so, whenever the topic came up, whether it be through a civilian, a member of the PRT or Protectorate, an inquisitive PHO-goer, or even himself, something would stop him. A pit of anxiety or just a too large part of his brain telling him that he'd only gotten his powers a few months ago, or that he didn't have a responsibility to be a hero, or any sort of excuse he could think of at the moment. He truly wasn't someone worthy of praise.

The screech of tires on asphalt made him move, quicker than most heroes would dream of as he quickly got in-between two vehicles that were on a collision course for each other. With a gentleness that he still thought really shouldn't be possible, he stopped the car that would have slammed into the side of the other with minimal damage as his arm pushed outwards and the car ran into his open palm. He winced a bit as he saw that even with his low effort, the front bumper was partially mangled from the sheer force of running into him and coming to a complete stop and he was sure there was probably some damage internally, but the driver looked okay if a bit shocked, good thing they were wearing their seat-belt and that the airbag had safely deployed. He flashed a peace-sign their way as he leaped away, they weren't his target, and neither was the skinhead in the other vehicle who was driving away in a hurry as he had ran a red light and almost been t-boned for his trouble. I'm sure he's very thankful that he had something more important to do today, and still took sometime to step in and help.

He couldn't even boast that he was a reasonably good person, someone that would do what he could if he couldn't do what he wanted to do. He was terrified of the possibility that one day Cauldron, or even worse the Simurgh, would just pop-up when he had no way to defend himself and do whatever they planned. He had specifically spent thousands of dirty money getting parts to make the device that was on his wrist, and it only theoretically worked because while the person who he cosplayed as to make it could do something like what he wanted, his power had decided to nerf him just enough that it could potentially screw him over. That had almost made him have a panic attack, if he hadn't had his meds on him at the time it was quite possible that could've been the end of things. Maybe not death, but he definitely would've done something irrational. The same way some intangible thing stopped him from signing up with the Protectorate, stopped him from simply giving up the knowledge he had to people who could more reasonably use it. To people who would be more willing to use it.

He was a horrible person, scum really. Strong enough to help, knowledgeable enough to make a difference, and then not doing those things.

However, he had resolved to himself that he would try.

One small step at a time.

He dropped down in front of a pair of youths draped in red and green armed with a knife and a pistol respectively as they advanced on a Caucasian girl. He stopped the words that wanted to come out of his mouth as the youths froze in his tracks, not the time for the ham really.

"Now, what is a pair of teenagers such as yourself doing terrorizing a girl? Hmm?" The words that he'd practiced to make them sound like his own, came unbidden as he stared the two down. "Why don't you two run along now, before you do something regret." His words were stern, like that of a parent chastising children that were caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

They froze for a moment with a deer caught in the headlights look, before the two turned to each other with a grimace and then turned away tutting as they walked off, mumbled curses on their breath.

He watched them for a moment, before turning back to the girl he had stepped in for.

She had a look of awe in her eyes, and he could imagine why. Having a "real hero" step in to save you wasn't the sort of thing that happened on the daily basis, nor even monthly or yearly really, it was, at least he thought, rare for a relatively well-known hero to personally step-in and save someone in a world like this. Too many rules and regulations meant that you would probably stop crimes like this in teams of two or three, and in a city like this the heroes likely to save you were the kids in the Wards for what was more a potential crime-in-progress, and well that probably didn't have the same weight. That was his take on it anyways, he was probably being cynical or just thinking about things too much.

"Are you okay ma'am? You're not hurt are you?" He asked politely, in a low tone, though low for him currently was more his normal outside voice.

She flushed in embarrassment after realizing she was staring and spoke. "Yeah, totally, I'm absolutely fine, those assholes had been giving me a hard time at school just because my Dad's Asian and were trying to get me into their stupid gang or whatever and I told them no a few times and maybe just maybe sprayed one of them with my mace and like cursed them out and kicked the other in the dick, I was just fed up that day and annoyed because other junk and didn't think they would go so far, ya know? I was just on my way home and noticed em following me so I maybe took a shortcut to try and shake them and then like realized "shit this is the wrong alley, this one's the dead end", honest mistake ya know? And then you jumped down like, Bang, and scared them off, which was pretty cool by the way, ya know?"

Her words were like a flurry coming out one after in onslaught of word bullets, enough to mow down any lesser person. However young girl, he was trained in the art of communication! Your motor mouth couldn't hope to confuse him at such a low level!

"That's good, would you like for me to escort you home, miss?" He allowed a relaxed smile to sit on his face, something that would charm and distract as well as calm down someone who'd just about been in a rather bad situation.

"YES! I-I mean yes Mister Polymer, if you could do that I'd, like, really appreciate it." She tried to act nonchalant, but the excitement was visible.

A part of him hated it, he didn't deserve such praise really. He stuffed that part down as he walked out of the alley-way with a grin and spoke. "Come on then, lead the way, and I'll make sure you're returned home safely, Miss."

The next 15 minutes saw him walk the girl down a few blocks as she asked a few questions, and mostly gushed about how "cool" it was to be seen with a real hero, and how he was "like her favorite hero after Miss Militia". She'd also roped him, read as asked him nicely, into taking a selfie with her that she was more than likely going to post on PHO as well autographing her Brockton Bay Badgers cap. He tried to push down the guilt and annoyance he felt and let the happiness for helping someone flow through him and was mostly successful.

Jumping away he turned his search back to the street as he landed on-top of another building, being careful as he noted the tiles seemed a bit old and liable to break if he exerted too much force.

He wasn't really a hero, not really one at all. A large part of him felt he was undeserving of the praise he got for what felt like minor things, for things he felt weren't really him.

But...

"Shit!" His legs pumped at 50% as he used more strength than he had ever really needed before, wincing as the sound of cracked tiles reached his ears, but his eyes were focused on the form in the car that was heading directly on a collision course for another. The passenger having missed the fact that the light had turned red, due to the cellphone they were looking down at. He could see, as her eyes saw the car and grabbed a hold of the steering wheel in attempt to swerve out of the way only to turn right into the path of a pole. The fact that she wasn't wearing a seat belt probably meant that this would be an unfortunate end, the sort of thing you read in the paper or hear in the news when they talk about why driving whilst texting or on the phone was bad. Just an unfortunate person, who unfortunately became apart of the statistic.

Someone whose family would never be the same with her loss.

No...

"I won't allow that! There's no need to fear! Why? For I am here!" The words slipped out of his mouth naturally as he pushed harder and found himself in front of the car, his hands holding tightly onto the front as he dug his heels into the ground. He couldn't stop the car, not immediately unless he wanted to damage the driver, so slowing it down was the only option! Even as his thick boots dug into the asphalt, tearing up the soles at least mildly and guaranteeing that more than likely he would have to replace them after this he didn't let go. Feeling the rush of another car zoom by him, he watched as the other driver skid to a stop a few feet away as they pulled off the road, good it meant at least he wouldn't have the other driver end up damaged.

It seemed like it was the work of minutes as the car slowly, but surely slowed down until finally it came to a complete stop.

He felt a blooming feeling in his chest, he felt good. The slight pain in his arms from stopping the car without using too much of his strength too the point where he would've stopped the car in its tracks immediately was a good pain.

He smiled widely, as he stared at the passenger in the vehicle who held a shocked, yet relieved look.

She was a tall, willowy woman. Long, dark curly hair framed a pair of brown eyes that were behind a simple pair of glasses. Her wide, and expressive mouth, told the story of a woman who had just experienced a miracle.

Well maybe he was exaggerating a bit.

It was more a miracle that he found her really.

"Polymer!""Polymer!""Polymer!" Cheers raised in the air even as he watched the woman tenderly get out of her car.

"Are you all right, Miss?"

But just because he wasn't a hero now, didn't mean he couldn't try and be one every now and then, right?

Being a hero was about doing scary things that no normal person could rationally decide to do quickly, to do things that could possibly change things in such a way that was utterly terrifying just because it was the right thing to do. It didn't matter that internally was screaming about how this could fuck literally everything that he knew, or that another part of him was filled with an existential dread about the fact that this would more than likely mean that he would have to be involved with things he'd much rather leave to the actual heroes.

After all, saving Annette Hebert from losing her life couldn't be the wrong thing to do.

He thought it was pretty heroic, really.


	2. The (After) Report

1.2

He let out a sigh inwardly, dealing with police reports always stressed him out.

Perhaps it was the justified paranoia from him having grown up in a bad neighborhood, or just the fact that the police always seemed to be a touchy subject back in his time, but he always felt a bit nervous talking to them. Like they were scoping him out and trying to figure out whether or not he was actually one of the good guys, or that they were just annoyed by him being another one of those capes that did some of their job for them. Strange how he was more nervous about them, when logically the actual Protectorate, and their by now not so subtle hints that perhaps just maybe he should join up with them.

He couldn't blame them for it, especially knowing that even now they were out-numbered by the villains in the city, and despite him hiding a lot of his actual strength he was a locally known "hero". He saved cats from trees, caught balloons that tried to float away, stopped unfortunate accidents in progress, and occasionally stepped in to stop the would be thugs who tried something in an alleyway or the more ballsy ones who didn't care whether or not they were seen. He admittedly had good PR, and even just the bit he did show off was probably more than enough to get him a decent rating with them.

It was like when a well-known rookie college player was drafted to a certain team in the professional league after some subtle, and not so subtle, hints that such and such team would be lucky to have you on it and in fact if you did join that they could bring out your true potential and make you even greater than before so why don't you sign this contract with us and really you won't regret it. The team looks good to the locals for taking in someone they knew, and they also came away stronger for it in most cases as they got another strong player added to their overall roster.

It rubbed him the wrong way, just a bit. It would be a win-win for the most part, they get another cape on their side as well as gain some of his good PR, and he would gain access to more resources that would make him an even more effective hero as well as get him out of his money troubles in a more general sense.

It was a good thing, but he preferred to not get caught up in the bureaucracy of it all.

He'd probably chafe under the rules and regulations to be honest.

Regardless, after he had explained to the Officer who had responded to the trouble, he'd asked Annette to call as he'd rather not show his own phone off and this was ultimately still her traffic accident, what had happened as well as Annette offering her own report of the events and was ultimately ticketed for Reckless driving, which was fair he thought. Cellphones were the ultimate distraction while in a vehicle it was too easy for someone to look down and answer a call or respond to a text and have a blink and you'll miss it experience, where everything was fine and then suddenly boom! You've crashed into another car, and hurt beyond belief, if not worse. Getting fined for essentially causing your own accident and endangering others was a way to make you think twice about doing it, even if internally he winced at the $500 dollars she was going to have to cough up for said fine.

He would love to help, really he was honest, but a hero typically did not except money for their services you know? Really, it's a very low paying job if you're not collecting loot from those you apprehend.

So sorry.

"Well, now that that's settled, Miss, do you need any assistance getting to where ever you were headed?" He politely asked as she put the ticket into the purse she had on her person.

"No, no, I'm fine, even the car isn't that damaged really. Besides, being who you are, I'm sure you have more important things to do than help me get home." She waved her hands back and forth frantic, trying to show that she and the car were both fine, and really they both did seem okay. However, even he was reasonable enough to understand that the truth was much more complicated there.

"Be that as it may, as a hero it is my duty to help people," The words came out easily, even if they made him rather annoyed, "And as a person I can understand that going through a rather shocking event can lead to an individual not really being as okay as they might seem or say, so I'll make sure you get home safely at least." His words were resolute, and as Annette stared at him, he could tell that she was trying to keep up a strong face. It was possible she realized that there was a good chance that she might've died.

She slouched a bit, and with a slightly raspy voice thick with emotion spoke. "...Thank you, I would appreciate it, I-I'll just call a tow to take my car back, so just give me a minute okay?"

"Of course, ma'am! I shall wait here! Like a normal person!" The ham was laid on thick as he spoke, the part of himself that was definitely not him currently felt like it had to do something to raise her spirits and, if only for awhile, take her mind off the incident that had just happened.

The smile she cracked through slightly watery eyes made it worth it.

It was only the work of some minutes to see a tow-truck arrive, apparently there was some luck to be had this day as that specific worker hadn't been that far away from us when Annette made the call. It seemed a bit suspicious, a bit too convenient really, but he shut down that line of thought lest his paranoia get the better of him and make him start seeing things where they might not even really be. Dwelling too much on what-ifs wouldn't do him any good, even if they were perfectly reasonable what-ifs.

Subsequently, after she gave the tow-driver the location slash directions to her home, Polymer escorted her home like any good hero would.

By standing menacingly behind her, a smile of blood-lust and pain etched on his face.

No, not really. It was a joke, honestly. What do you mean it wasn't funny?

The walk to her place was a short quiet affair, the distance not too faraway because she had been headed home from the Boardwalk and not Downtown, he wasn't sure if that was how things were supposed to be, but he would take what he could get. There had always been the chance that despite remembering the date he would miss the time and place, or even worse the event would be pushed to a different day or month just because he had existed. Butterfly effect could be a horrible thing like that when it wanted to be, and it was still the source of many of his own concerns.

As they inevitably came to a stop in-front of the home that he knew was home to Annette, Daniel, and Taylor Hebert, he felt a mix of nerves and excitement in his chest.

To be honest, he didn't much like Taylor. He could understand her choices, even empathize with some of the things she'd do, but the part of him that thought heroes should be heroes, that being a hero was about making the tough choice of getting a happy ending disagreed with a lot of her actions. That didn't even account for the personality she would inevitable develop due to the experiences that she had went through during the next couple years after her mother's death. It was a downhill thing, and it was only because he recognized that her actions did have some reasoning that he didn't hate her.

However, as Annette Hebert opened the door and he heard to twin gasps his eyes gazed downwards to stare at the two children.

One much like her mother with slightly less long dark curly hair, fair skin, and brown eyes behind a pair of square frame glasses. Around her neck was a familiar cape.

The other, red haired and green-eyed, and less plain looking in a sense, having been hit by more of the cute genes as a child than most were. On her was a visor and makeshift helmet.

They were both innocent right now, and as far as he was concerned that was enough for him.

"It is I! Polymer! Coming into your home! Like a normal person!" The loud boisterous words sent the girls into a fit of giggles and looks of admiration shone in their eyes.

He might not really be a true "hero", but he could at least pretend to be one.

Showing off and entertaining the young Taylor and Emma wasn't something that he really thought he would be doing, but after a brief and somewhat rushed explanation Daniel and Annette had walked upstairs so that they could do the consoling thing, and being happy that no one had died. There was still a warm place in his chest from his good deed, it made him feel just a teensy bit validated, like he was slowly earning the right to have this power. It was a complicated feeling to be sure, but it was something that he could live with for now, so long as it meant that he could try to be a hero.

"Mister Polymer, is it really true that you're as strong as Alexandria?" Taylor said hanging from one of his arms like it was some sort of tree branch.

"Taytay, of course he is," Emma interjected, ignoring the very Alexandria-looking visor and helmet she'd been wearing as she hung from his other arm, "Didn't you see how he got Lung to retreat in just a single punch? That's never happened before!"

"Yeah, but Alexandria's fought Endbringer's, I don't think Lung is on the same level, Ems." Taylor offered reasonably given what she knew of Lung.

He didn't know if Lung had already done his, "I'll take em all on", act where he manages to push back the entirety of the PRT or whether or not it was a reoccurring thing but he kind of regretted jumping into that fight. It was the only time he'd managed, well more like panicked and forced, his nerves down and tried to do some real good. The amount of property damage he'd caused from not being able to put Lung down quick enough and a mixture of not knowing how to handle the power of his costume at the time had made him look back on the day as a failure despite the fact that it had ultimately been his assistance that had sent a battered and bruised Lung fleeing under the aid of Oni Lee. He satisfied himself with the idea of how much that must of pissed off Lung.

"Now, now, whilst I am plenty strong young ladies, comparing my strength to another hero is unnecessary, for we both fight the good fight, to protect those who are in need of our help! It is very unlikely that we will come to blows, you know?"

At least he hoped he didn't have to fight Alexandria anytime soon, his current hero costume might be enough to out-muscle and possibly out-speed her, but that didn't matter if he couldn't do any lasting damage to her. If he remembered correctly, she was pretty much completely invulnerable outwardly, or immutable maybe? It was something like that, and it meant a fight in this form would ultimately end with him losing. At least that was his thoughts on the matter. The fight could be even more skewed in her favor than he thought, especially with the fact that she could fly.

He'd probably, read as definitely, have to switch costumes to win.

The sound of footsteps creaking down steps made him turn his head to a much more relieved looking Daniel and Annette Hebert.

Letting the two tykes off of his arm he walked over to the two, and was surprised when Daniel threw his arms around him as best a man a foot shorter could and hugged him.

"Thank you, thank you so much for saving my wife. I can never repay you, but thank you so much, if you ever need anything I swear I-"

"There is no need for that," Polymer stopped the grateful man in his tracks as he spoke, "My duty as a hero is to help those that are in need, if I couldn't save a person in front of my eyes, I wouldn't be much a hero, would I?"

Daniel Hebert pulled back and turned to his wife for a moment, exchanging a glance that could've meant many things, before turning back to me even as his daughter looked between her two parents like she didn't really understand what was happening.

"Well, could we at least treat you to dinner, Polymer, it's the least my family could do?" Daniel said after a moment.

"Yes, I mean, we owe you so much, surely a nice home-cooked meal is the least you'll let us pay you back with? I make amazing Curry, and it's not everyday that kids get to meet and eat with a real hero, you know?" Annette followed with, the jabbing nature of her words like a 1-2 punch follow-up.

He opened his mouth to decline politely, but the shouts of excitement and the twinkle in the eyes of both Danny and Annette told him that they had won this round.

Damn his soft nature, he couldn't just get two kids hopes up like that just to disappoint them.

Truly parents were the most devious sort of people.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have dinner, though I really must go after." He settled for, even as the cheers of the two children got louder.

He would remember this slight, and he would accept his reimbursement when he came to take it.

The grumble of his stomach belied his thoughts.


	3. (S)he is Inbetween

1.3

It was the sound of his alarm that woke him the next day.

Light streaming in from the windows of his studio apartment making him squint his eyes as he pulled the blanket off of his body.

Yesterday had been... nice, he thought. It differed heavily from the routine that he had been getting used to at the least. He'd usually get up early in the morning, shower, eat whatever food he had in the fridge that was still good, then either go to work or go to "work". Both the jobs ate up about 8 hours of the day, though the more scary one was a more off and on deal as he tried not to let it take his life over. Being a hero, or villain, was a full-time gig for some and with the rose-tinted goggles that came with the All Might costume off, he really couldn't see himself doing that with the way he was living right now.

Rolling off of his couch, and standing up he headed to the bathroom, stretching his arms behind his back and letting out a sigh of relief at the pops and cracks of his limbs. As a hand grabbed the toothpaste and the other his toothbrush, he thought more about the subtle things he was learning about his powers.

When he transformed, he became the hero that he cosplayed as, he got there powers, and became them on a physical level. It was something that he really didn't know how to feel about, it made the hero thing easier, and it was even a novel thing really, but... his eyes drifted towards the small closet that he had and quickly drifted back as he focused on brushing his teeth. On a mental level, he took on some of their quirks among other things. When he was All-Might, he was still himself mostly, just a bit more optimistic, charismatic, and overall cheerful. The heroics came naturally, and most of the time it was a little annoying for him, it was why he'd spent time practicing the words in the mirror. He wanted it to feel like he was saying the words, not All-Might.

Taking a look in the mirror his face stared back at him, a bored look on a downright androgynous face. He tutted at that fact.

It was just him, Nolan Miller, your average twenty-something year old. He wasn't particularly muscular, settling for the lean body of a runner, and even then he wouldn't really consider himself that athletic. He was more in-shape than anything really, and that was more than enough for now. Good luck future Nolan, for the problems of present Nolan are more pressing and as such the actions he'd take now were for his current sake, you understand right?

Regardless of that, compared to how he was when he costumed up, the difference was close to immeasurable.

When he was in costume, he felt like he was so much more.

But, he didn't feel himself.

It wasn't him.

It was another stupid complaint, another excuse for him to not do what he should.

He turned his thoughts towards the closet, and let out a sigh. Finishing his thorough brushing of his teeth he turned the knob inside of the shower and stripped himself of the t-shirt and boxers he was wearing. Stepping into the shower after a few seconds, he felt his muscles relax as the water hit his body.

The sound of the water hitting him reminded him of rain.

He had a lot of good memories associated with rain, the thunderstorm where he had sat in the dark with his grandma and his brother waiting for the storm to pass by them as the sounds of heavy rain and thunder rumbled outside their home. He hadn't been scared, something about it had been peaceful in a sense. His grandma hadn't been scared, so he hadn't really felt a reason to be scared either. It was an event he could remember vividly, it was one of the reasons he liked water so much.

Deciding to stop reminiscing for awhile, he focused on the point of the shower, to clean himself and get ready for the day ahead of him. He had things he had to do today, busy work really, but it came with the hitch that he wanted degrees of separation between him, his main persona, and other personas, along with the reasonable ability to legitimately protect himself if needed. Call it paranoia, but was he truly paranoid when there was the legitimate possibility that something could happen. Better to be safe than sorry than not safe and have someone figure out that he was Polymer.

Being mostly soft and squishy, at least until he could scrounge together some money, supplies, and time, sucked.

Stepping out of the shower and drying off he walked over to his closet and inspected the very carefully sealed boxes that contained his costumes. Carefully sealed meaning that with the help of some stolen scrap, parts of a microwave or three, other assorted junk, and maybe a really smart hero, he'd built the boxes in such a manner that they couldn't be opened by someone who wasn't him. It'd scan certain key things before actually opening, and if those were missing, it would just not open. Simple enough, really.

Someone would have to get a rather large chunk of him to even see the costumes, and for the most part, they were just well constructed and wouldn't do much for the common person. It wasn't exactly full-proof, but it was close enough.

More importantly, he had things that needed to be done today, and standing around wasn't going to get it done.

Taking the time to open the box with the number 1 on it, he briefly stared at the contents. Two costumes sat in the box folded neatly, a stark contrast to the other 3 boxes which each held one. The relationship between the two costumes made it feel right for him to put them together, they both held very similar powers too.

A small grimace stretched across his face as he pulled out the full attire. A dark green, almost black, form-fitting dress that would be very flattering on someone with feminine curves, a pair of black thigh-high boots, and a long white fur coat that was more or less an accessory to the full outfit. He'd probably leave it, it was supposed to be hot today. The woman's underwear in the box was picked out hesitantly, though he knew the necessity demanded that he worked through his conscious problems with this.

He took a few deep breaths, he could feel his hands shake slightly, though not unconsciously. It was definitely him that had a problem with this.

It was only the work of a some minutes to change into the costume.

Her face changed gradually, smoothing out any previous imperfections as it gradually became more feminine, soft, pouty lips forming as the process continued. She could feel as her formally flat chest swelled, increasing dramatically in size and filling out the dress she wore with ease. Her normally boyish hips, flared outwards, giving her body a more mature look as she took an hourglass shape as the rest of her body filled out.

The transformation only took a matter of seconds, all things considered.

Stepping over to the full-length mirror that hung next to the closet, she inspected herself. She looked French, though in the right light maybe she was Asian-ish. The costume fit perfectly, hugging her curves tight and accentuating her form, projecting an air of confidence in her body and who she was as a person. It felt normal.

There was no feelings of discomfort, no sense of wrongness, it felt like she had this body her whole life.

Her hands clenched and unclenched, that just made her feel worse.

It was unnerving.

It always made her question why the hell she put herself through this, and she'd always manage to convince herself it was worth it for the benefits it added to keeping her identity safe. If she had someone to express what she was feeling to, someone to trust her secret to and just rant at about her situation maybe she wouldn't feel this awful pit in her stomach, but she could deal with it.

She could deal with it, so long as it remained useful to her. Being a hero meant dealing with unpleasant things, things that you would rather not deal with or burdens you would rather not carry. She wasn't a hero, not a very impressive one really, but she wanted to be one. One who could make the world a better place, a place that wasn't nearly as grim as she knew it could be.

It was why her main persona was who he was, despite the heroes she could've chosen to be.

Walking away from the mirror, she picked up her phone and took a moment to look at the pictures she had saved. Each one was motivation, someone's day that she had made brighter as Polymer. Little Cindy, who had gotten her balloon stuck in a tree had lit up when she had retrieved it for her, tying it around her wrist so she wouldn't lose it. She remembered the mothers happy look, how seeing a hero stop for something so minor had improved her mood. She had ultimately taken a picture with the two, herself posing as All-Might with the daughter and mother.

There were more and more as she scrolled, just the collection of a few months of work that felt minor, but had had an impact on each of these people.

Yes, she could deal with unpleasantries so long as it meant she could continue her work, however ultimately small it was.

Grabbing her phone and stuffing it into a pocket she had sown onto the dress herself out of convenience—seriously why didn't all clothing have pockets—she stepped out of the apartment that she called home. She could deal with her baggage eventually, there were things that she needed to do and it was better to just not think about it for now. Easier to keep moving forward than to look back.

It was a nice day today, the sun shined bright above as she took to the air.

She was Blizzard, and she had a meeting to intend.

Touching down in the deeper part of the Docks, the contrast between it and it's own periphery was noticeable. Whilst Taylor lived in a relatively clean looking part of the Docks, it was more so because it was the part that was closer to the Boardwalk as well as the Downtown area. The further you got in, the infrastructure seemed to get worse.

Potholes littered the roads, cracked sidewalks with patches of grass growing out from underneath, the paint on the buildings were faded and peeling, and this was ignoring the graffiti that littered the area. It was the sort of area where she was sure you could go if you wanted to get some drugs easy, despite being in view of the PRT headquarters, it wasn't over viewed by them too closely.

She smiled slightly as she walked, it reminded her of home.

The sneers and other more curious looks she got from the ABB gangsters that huddled up in small groups here and there were nothing new, though she knew it was only the masquerade mask she wore that kept them away. This was Lung's territory after all, she'd either leave, be forced to leave, or die, they more than likely thought. If they knew what she could do, they'd know better than to think that. As it stood, there was only one telekinetic in this world that could match her, and it was precognitive monster that even the stronger heroes struggled to deal with.

She could handle being second, in that regard.

As her eyes scanned the streets and the buildings above, her eyes narrowed when she spotted what she was looking for. A simple banner, almost unnoticeable really if you weren't looking directly at it, of a mouse scurrying. An innocuous image as there was, as far as she could remember, no gang with affiliation to mice. However, it was the call sign of one of the lesser known independents in Brockton Bay.

Ducking into an alleyway, it was easy enough to float herself up and through the broken window before anyone could see her, and land on the third floor with grace. Her psychokinesis being enough to make sure that her clothes wouldn't snag on a shard of glass, her clothes were durable, but she'd rather not test her luck.

She wasn't surprised by the lack of dust and relative neatness, her main confidant was a bit of neat-freak.

"Blizzard! Almost thought you were a no-show! I missed your boo- Ow!" A happy voice, loud enough that she was sure someone should be hearing it, was silenced with a resounding slap to the head.

"She's not like you idiot, she would of called if she couldn't make it." The dry voice who was responsible for the slap retorted.

Leaned up against each other, they were Lexicon and Pickpocket, two independents who operated out of Brockton Bay most of the time.

Lexicon was tall, almost six feet, and thin. The large robe she wore was a dull silver color, with black inscriptions all over it and covered the majority of her body to obscure her movements. The wide brim hat she wore hung over her eyes, though she knew from experience that she could see perfectly fine, and that her eyes were a faded blue.

She was a grab-bag cape, whose main power had to deal with words. She had enhanced dexterity, a relatively weak form of telekinesis, and could set rules and effects by writing words or a set of words down. Writing something like Truth for example would make those within 100 feet tell the truth when they spoke. Her power-set was fairly strong, but by her own admission she didn't really want to be a cape, only going along with it because Snatcher did.

Pickpocket was, as far as she was willing to say, a Shaker. Or Striker? Well, whatever she grabbed she could store it away in some sort of pocket dimension, and whenever she wanted she could retrieve the object what made it scary was that she could store living things. Though, from her on admittance it was harder to do, whilst being vague on what made it harder. Her primary offensive way of using her power was shooting things out of her pocket dimension fast enough to hurt.

She mostly dealt in petty theft and larceny, Noel-It helped to refer to herself differently to adjust to her current form- didn't know much about the why, but if she were a betting woman she'd say the girl was a Kleptomaniac, or at least suffered from kleptomania to some degree.

More than that, she knew that the pocket dimension power couldn't be the girl's only power, because it seemed much like she was like Circus. Another cape, that she knew had rather similar powers. Her instincts told her that she was hiding something, but she wouldn't pry. Not unless she felt the need to anyway, she'd rather not burn a bridge because of curiosity.

Pickpocket's outfit did not at all match her power and was a bright pastel colored leotard with sleeves and tights with polka dots. The red clown nose and baby blue bow tie only added to the craziness of her outfit. She looked like a clown, and it was perhaps that fact that made people take her so lightly, well maybe that was more the fact that she was playing the act of the loveable jokester. She'd get away with most her theft because people were too busy laughing, a thief who not many realized got away with it far too often.

Regardless, they worked together, well more like Lexicon put up with Pickpocket's antics, and were a reasonable source of info if you could afford it or were willing trade favors. Info brokers were a universal thing after all, though she herself was firmly in the latter camp as she was a poor hero who lived in a studio apartment. It was almost like college, really. Except no roommates to clean up after. It was nice, if not for the cloud of "I'm gonna be homeless one of these days aren't I?" hanging over her head occasionally.

"So, what did you two need me for then? Usually, it's me asking around for you two." She spoke after a brief moment.

"Got a tip for you is all," Lexicon shifted from her position against the wall ignoring the bang sound as Pickpocket fell with a honk, "The E88 is on the lookout for you, got orders to try and recruit you since you're "white enough" I guess. They'll probably give you a soft-pitch, give you some of the benefits, push their confirmation-bias on you gradually, and hope you'll eventually join and "see reason"." Her tone was dry, but filled with a subtle amusement. She found the entire situation funny.

"The E88 trying to involve themselves in frenchship with Blizzie? I did Nazi that one coming!" Pickpocket burst into giggles at her puns from her position on the floor. They were awful, but she couldn't help but crack a smile at them, Lexicon resolving herself to let an exasperated sigh.

"Well, regardless of this idiot, there's also the matter of Orchestra and Neon. They wanted to see if you wanted to go on patrol with them, after Slipknot up and decided to take the law into his own hands they need an extra body to go with them."

"More like they want ogle her body~" Pickpocket chimed in with a puerile giggle.

She hummed in thought to hide her discomfort, the fact that there was a part of her that didn't mind was… she pushed the thought out of her mind and focused her attention back on the conversation at hand. Better to not think about it, it always worked out so well for the present her after all.

"So, you think I should go and help those two then?" She stated her theory after going over Lexicon's words in her head.

"If you want a bit of good reputation built, then yes. They're… competent, and know how to keep underground and stay out of eye."

Noel didn't need to hear the words to read between the lines, despite her dry tone, there wasa hint of worry in her voice. She could appreciate the sentiment, even if she knew she could handle herself.

"Alright then, I'll make sure to contact them when I can. Anything else?"

"Consider one of the favors I owe you repaid. And…" She hesitated for a moment before tilting her head down, obscuring her face as she spoke, "You should try to hang out with us more you know, Pickpocket missed you."

Jumping to her feet with a flourish, the much shorter Pickpocket was on Lexicon's back with a large cheesy grin on her face. Not being prepared for such a thing, Lexicon let out an uncharacteristically girly "Eep" as she tried to get the shorter girl to let go.

"Aww, Lexi, you're blushing! You missed Blizzie didn't you? That's almost enough to make a girl jealous, especially after you had your thighs wrapped around m-" Her words were cut off as Lexicon, her face flushed a bright red, wrote the word Mute on her and proceeded to walk off, looking to exit the building and get away even as Pickpocket clung to her back.

Shooting her a cheery smile, Pickpocket waved happily at her as the two of them exited the room.

She shook her head, her dark green hair swaying lightly with the movement as she smiled.

Those two were oddballs, she could remember that when she had first met them, they'd both eye her with suspicion. A new independent who had apparently helped them just because? They were hard-pressed to believe such a thing, and she couldn't find it in herself to judge them for that. It had been merely luck that she had stumbled upon the two fighting a person that she later figured out was one of Lexicon's cluster-mates, who'd apparently joined with the Merchants for some reason or another.

That entire situation was a mess, but she'd come out of it for the best ultimately.

She gained two people who she could call friends.

That was enough to make up for it all.

Turning to leave, she held a finger to her chin in thought.

She had some time to kill, what could she do until then?

Well, she'd figure something out.

First she needed to leave, she'd much rather not have to deal with a Dragon and his teleporting assassin.


	4. Butterfly (in) Effect

1.4

Her fingers drummed across the table as she sat in the outdoor cafe.

It was a small place she had found a while back, the owner had been the one to help her get on her feet when she had arrived, the whole getting a job and place to live thing had been as difficult as it normally was. Compounded with her situation the time, she really doubted that she would of made it without her help. It was one of those things that she really didn't think she'd ever be able to pay back, it held that much weight to her.

To separate herself from her normal hero attire for this specific hero, she had changed outfits. A red cold shoulder blouse, a tan pleated skirt, and a pair of high heel flats gave her a nice casual look, whilst still looking good. The adjustment to dressing feminine was… hard, to put it simply, but she'd say that she'd gotten it down for the most part. Though, beyond basic stuff like lipstick, make-up was a bust. A part of herself was annoyed and uncomfortable by the looks she got, but well, she was getting used to it. That was really the only thing that she could do in a situation where she was quite literally not in her own skin.

Besides, it did come with the downside of making her a bit weaker than normal. This was strictly a casual attire for the hero she was impostering as, and her power downgraded her strength by a bit. A vague number in her mind letting her know she was operating at about 40%, much weaker than she normally was, but strong enough that there wasn't too much that she couldn't deal with so long as she saw it coming.

Regardless, she had other things that she needed to deal with.

Madison.

She had marked down in a notebook, which she really needed to just put on a flash drive instead or at least something more secure than a notebook really, a list of notable dates that she remembered in canon. Things such as when Annette was supposed to die, when Taylor was supposed to leave for summer camp, when Emma was supposed to meet Sophia, when Lung would inevitably recruit Bakuda, and more. The most important of those was of course the dates when the Endbringers were supposed to be attacking.

The keywords being supposed to.

It was entirely possible that everything she did was entirely worthless and ultimately going to fail if the angelic bitch could see her well enough to plan around her. It was a terrifying thought, because if her efforts to obscure herself were worthless than that meant she was already someone's piece on the board. Just existing in the world could be enough to change Contessa's path, and if she so much as decided to look and see what made the change it was very unlikely she could do anything.

Whatever path she made, the ones not involving Scion or the Endbringers and a few other parahumans if she remembered right, would always work. If there was even the slimmest chance of things going her way, she could do it. She was sure that on a physical level she was definitely stronger, of this she had no doubt, but the fact was that such a thing a thing really didn't mean much.

If Contessa could beat her, she would.

She clenched her arm to stop the trembling of her body.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Instead of letting her paranoia creep in on her, she tried to think of less heavy things.

For example the thought of her black and white cat, Duo, well it wasn't really hers but the stray cat sort of lingered around in her area and was always so happy to see her and was just the most adorable creature that she had ever laid her eyes on and had the most softest fur you ever could imagine and the way it purred when you scritched it behind its ears just right was so cute that she was sure that there if there was such a thing as a cuteness singularity, than her cat would probabl-

"Ahem."

The sound of someone clearing their throat was what drew Noel away from her thoughts.

"Are you gonna just sit there with your head in the clouds, or what, bitch? I didn't drive out here for nothin did I?" The snarky, feminine, voice said as they took a seat across from her with no real heat in their voice.

Turning her eyes up to meet the newcomer she smiled, the girl was college aged, probably in her early 20s if one was to do a rough estimate. She had a distinctly Asian look to her, long black hair and pale skin being the notable tells, however the pale blue eyes that she had gave away the fact that at least some part of her family was Western in origin. Her clothes were casual, choosing comfort over style, going with a simple tee that had some Japanese text on it in a big and bold red styling and a pair of blue jeans with a wallet chain hooked to it and black boots.

"Just because I was distracted doesn't mean I didn't notice you Alice," Which was the truth because paranoia was a cruel mistress and required her to keep a small part of herself paying attention to her surrounding at all times, "Anyways, I thought you said you'd tone down on the cursing? Seems even the perfect Alice Kanda has her flaws~." Noel replied after a moment, her words light despite their teasing nature.

Alice snorted as she pulled out her phone, and fiddled with it, her thumb swiping the screen up, down, right, and left.

"Bitch, you wish. I'm beyond you normal people standards, I'm a genius, thus I don't gotta listen to your shit."

"Hmm, and this has nothing to do with Kaoru ri-"

"What did that idiot text you, huh? Did he tell you how apparently, I'm too "intense" for his cowardly ass? Or how he suddenly realized that he liked dick? Or the fac-"

"Well, he didn't text me anything besides the fact that you two had a falling out and to try and put a good word in for him, though I can see that there's more to it than that. If you want to vent though, you know I'll always lend an ear." She cut in quickly, stopping the tirade that Alice had been about to go from picking up too much steam.

Alice was an obsessive person, a genius by her own word and someone who did not really deal well with people due to being about as abrasive as steel wool most of the time. It was a very fair assessment to call her intense, especially with her ego only having shrunk slightly since the two had met a couple months ago.

Noel, however, understood how to deal with people like that.

Kaoru, Alice's boyfriend for the past few years, was not and she could see where this was going.

"I found the bastard taking it in the ass from some random ass dude in our apartment, and when I get all offended and shit like I'm supposed to because ya know, this is my first committed relationship and shit, he tries to turn the tables on me and act like I'm the fucking problem. As if, because I want the person I date to be successful like I am and not be like wet cardboard in terms of personality and backbone, I'm the asshole! I paid for our apartment, I helped him with his classwork, I bust my ass learning medical shit so that I can help him study for his exam, I paid for his shitty car to be repaired, I did so much for him and he repays me with this shit! I'm just so fucking done!" Punctuating her last words was the slam of her fist against the table they sat at as she vented.

Sitting there taking it all in as her friend breathed heavy from her rant, Noel was the picture of calm as she picked up her tea from the table, thankful that it hadn't spilled, and took a sip.

Why the hell did the world have to make her deal with this?!

Like seriously, she already had enough crap on her plate, can't she just get a break for a day? She knew going down to Boston to try and preemptively nip in the bud a situation that could occur a few years down the line was a good thing, she had spent a good while even trying to find the girl to try and do… something. It was apt to say she hadn't had much of a plan beyond go find the half-Japanese girl that should be Bakuda and then befriend the shit out of her or try to curb her ego slightly, but things had worked out in such a way that when she had found Alice, Noel found her to be not nearly as bad as she knew she could be.

Alice didn't have many real friends, she did have people that looked up to her however, praising her and riding her coattails like hanger-ons. All they did was bloat the girl's ego, and because she was doing extremely well in all she did, well her ego was justified. Her boyfriend Kaoru had seemed tired of her, but was pulled along by Alice's willingness to make things work and lacking the spine to go against her wishes. It wasn't hard to see how she could end up in another 3 years of such treatment, but as it stood she was merely a rather intelligent and driven young woman with a mildly inflated ego.

Don't ask her how she'd done it, but she managed to become friends with the girl, and well they were really quite good friends. Noel wasn't willing to simply be pulled along by Alice and in her own way, Noel could tell she appreciated it. Thus, as probably the only friend that she could actually speak to about this, Noel had to deal with this as a good friend would.

"Wanna go somewhere and trash some junk? Nothing is quite so soothing as destroying wreckage that no one cares for."

Alice was silent for a moment, as her pale blue eyes stared at me unblinking.

And then she grinned widely.

"Fuck, you know what, you know me too well you sunnovabitch. Let's go break some shit! Better than wallowing around like some sad sap over some asshole that's not good enough for me anyways." As if the previous moment had never happened, Alice was up from her seat walking over to her Jeep in a flash. "Come on, finish your tea, and get your butt moving, Noel! We're heading to the Trainyard!"

Shaking her head, she smiled. That went better than expected, she pat herself on her back for her quick thinking. Letting out a sigh she pulled out her wallet from the pockets on her skirt— seriously pockets are awesome, why don't all clothing have them— and leaving it on the table along with a nice tip for the waiter who was eyeing her up from behind the counter. He looked nervous, probably due to the fact that Alice had just vented rather loudly in public in a rather explosive manner, so it was understandable. Giving the poor guy a sincere smile, she walked quickly over to where Alice had parked and hopped in the front passenger side.

The Jeep was a dark black, and notably clean despite being some years old. Alice was a stickler for such things, she was the type to her items cleaned and orderly if she could, not liking the idea of having a mess if it wasn't something she could sort through. She'd call it something like an orderly chaos.

"Buckle up, or don't, you'll be safe with your powers 'Buki. Probably." Taking a second to buckle up herself, we sped off.

Shaking her head, she took a moment to buckle her seatbelt as they drove through the traffic, which was surprisingly light. Probably had to do with the fact that it was a pretty hot day. No one liked the heat, well not reasonable people anyways. She noted that the Jeep, at least the backseat, was still filled with all of the half-finished projects, papers, and just general junk that Alice worked on. On the dashboard was a honolulu girl, and the radio blared with some punk music that sounded vaguely familiar. All in all, it was a contrast to the genius girl, perfectionist that was Alice, but it wasn't strange really. She'd be more surprised if the people she'd known as characters weren't people beyond what she had read.

"So, how's the cape shit going? Heard you been 'round with the C and D-listers even though your powers make you one of the baddest bitches in the city, the fuck's up with that? If I were a betting gal, I'd say you're building up for something big." Alice's eyes were focused on the road as she spoke, but there was a notable amount of interest present.

"Something like that, making connections and figuring out the overall cape scene in Brockton is at least part of it." Noel answered after a moment, keeping things vague and acting as if she actually as if she had some bigger plan beyond trying to do good stuff where she could. She wasn't the type to want to rule over people, or be in a notable position of power, despite the hero that she was cosplaying being quite the opposite. Though there was a push to consolidate power under herself, it was mostly ignored through crippling indecisiveness and a general disdain for such a thing.

"The way you say that makes me think you got something real big going on, if it has to do with those Nazis, fuck 'em up for me alright?"

"As if you had to ask."

Alice, was an unplanned thing in her now life, really.

She was her confidant, someone who knew at least the partial truth. Not enough to ever use it against Noel, just enough to know that she had her normal self and then Blizzard, or more aptly, Fubuki. She had needed to explain something after Alice had caught followed her and found practicing with her powers when she was still getting the hang of them, and going with a partial truth was better than denying the obvious. Things hadn't changed too much between them after it, weirdly enough. Mainly because watching someone crush a sizable amount of steel wreckage with a wave of a hand was, in Alice's own words, "fucking terrifying".

Understandable really, but not the worse she could do. Not that Alice needed to know.

Though... maybe it would get her to stop sniping at the fact that her guy form was "girly looking".  
Hmm... nah wasn't worth it.

Besides that, she did consider the girl a friend, and while there was always the chance that she could go off the deep end one day and become the person that Noel knew she could be, she'd feel scummy if she was one of the reasons that she was pushed to be like that. Someone that could be bad, evil, or malicious, didn't mean that they were always that way nor that they were destined to be that way. At least, that was her thoughts on the matter anyway. She'd deal with it if things ever got out of hand.

As they pulled into the area right outside the Trainyard, she decided to put the thoughts out of her head. She needed to currently be there for her friend, she really needed to stop getting caught up in her own thoughts so much.

"Alright, where the hell did I put it?" Parking the car off the actual road, Alice unbuckled her seat and hopped into the back, rummaging through the various clutter on the floor. Noel took the executive decision to look away, as she noted the black thong and felt a slight blush form on her face. "Ah! Here we go!"

In her right hand was a red metal bat, with the kanji for Zantetsuken written on it. In the left, a 9mm.

"Do you even know how to fire a gun, you idiot?"

"Firstly, don't call me a fucking idiot got it? Secondly, no, but hey there's a first for everything, ya know?"

Snatching the gun from her hand, Noel quickly put the safety on in a fluid motion that came from years of proper firearm safety drilled into her head.

"Well then, first thing you should know is to keep the safety on the gun if it's not in use, or if you're not planning to use the gun anytime soon. Also, and this one's more obvious, don't point a loaded gun at someone you're not going to shoot." Her words were stern, being paraphrased from her instructor at the gun range she used to frequent.

"Sheesh, are you gonna lecture me, or are we gonna break some shit?" There was a hitch in her voice, that made Noel sigh. She wasn't okay, and this wasn't the time to act all hard, she needed to remember that.

"Alright, come on, I'll show you how to fire the thing and not accidentally shoot yourself." Noel said as she got out of the vehicle and moved deeper into the Trainyard, it was still in use so they needed to go to where all abandoned junk was.

"Sick!" Quickly following after her, soon Alice fell into step with her as they made there way further into to the Trainyard.

The two walked in silence for a bit before Noel spoke up.

"Wow, you're vertically challenged."

Alice stood at a rather modest 5 foot 2, or 167 cm if you're a heretic who uses the metric system. In comparison, Noel, towered over her at 5 foot 9, or 175 cm if you're into heresy like that. Despite their relative similarity in age, there were loads of differences, the most notable one at the moment being their height.

"And you're mentally challenged if you really think that."

"No, try again. You're short Alice."

"I'm perfectly average height, miss super-power assisted supermodel body!"

"More like perfectly tiny, miss superiority complex."

"It's not a superiority complex if I am superior to most of those mouthbreathers in Cornell."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say flat chest."

"Shut up, you goddamn cow!"

As they reached the jungle of wreckage that was more aptly a junkyard that just so happened to be connected to the Trainyard, they both snorted as the atmosphere naturally lightened from their comments at each other. It was this bit of mutual trust and respect between the two of them that let them get away with the sniping comments, Noel knew if she was literally anyone else that hadn't earned Alice's respect than it was very likely they would've been on the wrong side of that bat very quickly. She didn't take shit from people, especially those who she thought were beneath her, and in some ways, that was admirable.

"Alice, look over here, bet I can shoot that window out first try!"

"Maybe you should try something easier first, I mean, if you miss and the bullet ricochets off of something there's a chance you could hit yourself or me." Her words were filled with the concern of someone who'd seen something like that happen and would rather not witness such a thing again. Being hit in leg by your own bullet was dumb, being hit because you hit something at just the right angle for it to decide to just fuck you up was unlucky and embarrassing.

"Sheesh, are you doubting my skills? I'm fucking amazing! Watch thi— Oh shit!"  
Noel let out a sigh as a blue glow stopped the bullet that had indeed ricocheted and had been merely a few inches away from tagging Alice in the arm. Turning to her with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression, Alice turned away quickly with a blush of embarrassment spreading across her face.

"Okay, that was… probably not my smartest idea. So, uh, want to show me how to use this thing and not actually shoot myself like some sorta idiot?" Her words were sheepish as Noel crushed the bullet finely, and then flicked it away into the junk.

"Well, that was what we're here for anyway, well that and to "destroy some shit". Remind me why I agreed to do this again?" Her words were light as she walked behind Alice and adjusted her grip on the gun that she sure the girl had acquired illegally.

"Because you love me, 'Buki. Obviously."

"Bitch, you wish."

"Ouch, shot down just like? You hurt me, ya know? Anyways, it's so just in-case some idiot gets the idea to fuck with me again, I can pull out this baby and be all "You decided to fuck with the wrong girl tonight shithead". Or, if someone decides that they'll go after your social life and shit, and trust me I've heard it happens, I won't be completely defenseless. I refuse to be defenseless, to let some weak idiots that just so happen to have a gun pretend like they're better than me."

She made some good points, but that last thing? There was something more there, that needed to be unpacked.

"Alice, you do know everything isn't about proving your better than others, right?"

"That's what the idiots want you to think 'Buki, everything in this fucked up world is about proving you're the best, that people should know you're the best even when you ain't doing anything amazing. Look at me, I'm a genius, but I don't have to tell that to everybody that I interact with in Boston, they just know because I proved I'm smarter than they are."

"Sure, but what happens when you stumble?"

"I won't stumble."

"Okay, but what if you do?"

"Then I'd just prove that it was a one-time thing, and that I'm still the smartest fucker they know. Can we just no—"

"That'd be harder than what you're thinking it is. Keeping up a look of perfection means when it comes crashing down, you've lost the mysticism surrounding you, you become human instead of something that think is unreachable. And it's almost impossible to get back to where you were, because that thought will now linger in everyone's minds, that just because you looked superior didn't mean anything. You could fail just like them, and that means you're not something to truly fear. And that's not even dealing with the fact that there is always going to be someone out there in the world better than you, or that superiority can mean absolutely nothing depending on the situation." Noel's word were succinct, and piercing as Alice stilled in-front of her.

"Can… can we just drop this for now?" Her words were quiet, and bitter.

"Yeah, of course, you… you know I'm only saying this shit because I care right. I don't want you to work yourself up to this big podium where you stand alone only to fall because something takes you by surprise," Her hands gripped Alice's tighter where they met on the gun, "I care about my friends, even the bitchy ones."

There was silence for a moment.

"Y-you're a real fucking sap, you know that saying shit like that almost makes me think you really do love me or some shit."

"I do love you… like a friend." She added after a moment, a cheeky grin stretching across her face.

"And people say I'm an asshole," Alice groaned before snorting, "Anyways, are we gonna break some shit or what? If I have to have any more of a heart-to-heart I might gag."

"Sure, make sure to not almost accidentally shoot yourself again, I might not catch it next time~."

"Uh huh, whatever ya say, 'Buki." The elbow to Noel's ribs was rightly earned, even if her body was more than strong enough at just 40% to shrug it off.

There was a period where there was no other sounds, besides those of nature, gunfire, and occasionally glass shattering.

"Noel?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks, hero."

"No problem."


End file.
